As part of the blog, I tried a couple of new products recently. One thing I have never actually owned was a standalone Citrus Zester, so I was intrigued by the new new one from Deiss, that also doubles as a cheese grater with a multitude of uses, from grating lemon, garlic, ginger and nutmeg too. As with all graters, you have to watch your fingers when you use it, and I’m grateful it comes with a blade cover, as it’s a much more substantial tool that the ones I’ve seen for sale in my local supermarkets. I write more about it below.
Castle McLellan Pate
I do like a bit of pate, though mushroom is usually my stretch.
They say:
Castle MacLellan Foods Limited in Dumfries & Galloway has been established for over 30 years and is renowned for its high quality range of pâtés. Today we continue a tradition of excellence and the reputation as the pâté experts. It is our attention to detail and sourcing of authentic ingredients which enables us to create the finest recipes.
Castle McLellan sent me some samples of their pates’ to try, and as my kids also like it, I accepted a selection. The ones we received were.
- Oven Roasted Mushroom Pate, with garlic and thyme.
- Smoked Salmon Pate, with lemon juice and horseradish.
- Chicken Liver Pate, with Scottish heather honey.
- Rannoch Smoked Duck Pate, with apple jelly.
- Luxury Orkney Crab Terrine, with lemon juice & mustard.
We haven’t opened them all yet, as we couldn’t eat them all at once, but we have broken out the Mushroom and the Smoked Salmon. I absolutely loved the mushroom one, as it’s a rich, creamy, over roasted mushroom pate, with full fat soft cheese, creme fraiche, and seasoned with a hint of garlic & thyme.
I was quite surprised to find that inside the outer cardboard wrappers, there are recipe suggestions for the pate. Our Mushroom pate contained a recipe for wild mushroom soup, with garlic croutons, which would make 1 large bowl or 2 smaller bowls. By that point, I’d eaten half the pate, and my middle child had eaten the bagel in the image, so we had none left to make the soup with, but I’d love to try making it.
There are lots of other recipes on their website at castlemaclellan.co.uk
My kids polished off the Smoked Salmon Pate, and I don’t think the other ones currently sitting in my fridge are going to last for long. You don’t get the real colour of the smoked salmon pate below, but it was a lovely pale shade.
Castle MacLellan and proud makers of Scottish Pate, and are owned by the Kavli Trust, which supports good causes in the UK and abroad. Part of the profits from the Kavli group are reinvested in strengthening and developing the groups operations, which the rest is donated to good causes in research, culture and humanitarian work, by supporting poor and disadvantaged people in the global south and in the Kavli countries.
Available to buy in Sainsburys, Aldi, ASDA, Morrisons, Co-operative, Booths, NISA, Budgens, Local Independent Stores.
Deiss Pro Citrus Zester & Cheese Grater
For the pictures on this post, I used the Deiss to grate some lemon peel to sit over the Smoked Salmon Pate from Castle McLellan. Deiss is a small kitchenware company, and the Citrus Zester and Cheese Grater can be found on Amazon at a great price at the moment. As of 23 April 2017, the price is £9.98 with free delivery. That’s a pretty great price for such a nifty gadget.
The Zester & Cheese Grater are well presented and looks like a professional product from the word go. It is very sharp. I’ve already said this, as I ran my fingers across it to wipe away the lemon zest. Big mistake. Thankfully, I didn’t press, and my fingers recovered, but keep your hands well away from the blades when you are cleaning it, and if you put this in a kitchen drawer, make sure you use the purpose designed blade cover that comes with it.
Actually, I’m pretty pleased with this. It’s far easier for me to hold and grate cheese, than my old traditional style grater, and I have more control it. It’s made of a premium quality stainless steel that won’t rust, and has a non-slip grip, which is always important for any device with a blade.
I like it so much, that I’ve given my old graters away. I guess that says it all. It’s very light, and comes with a lifetime warranty, as well as being dishwasher safe.
Thanks to Castle McLellan and Deiss for our samples.